Benchmarks add losses; Sensex sinks over 400 points

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the noon session, with the Sensex losing over 400 points and Nifty falling below the 8400 level, weighed down by fear that higher interest rates under incoming President Donald Trump will spark capital outflows from the region. Besides, weak trend in Asian stocks coupled with depreciation in rupee value against the dollar also weighed on the sentiment. Rupee crashed by 52 paise to breach the 67-level and traded at 67.15 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday. Emerging market currencies like rupee were hammered by concerns that investors could pull back their funds out of higher-yielding emerging assets and move them back to the US. Investors also remained cautious as 485 companies are expected to announce September quarter earnings today. The list includes heavyweight like SBI, M&M, Sun TV, Reliance Power, IPCA Labs, MOIL, Natco Pharma and Andhra Bank. In the meantime, market men overlooked report that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a step to address corporate stress, making sweeping changes to existing loan recast schemes, it has given lenders additional time up to 180 days for hammering out a restructuring package under the scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed asset (S4A). Previously, the time limit was 90 days. Further, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it supports India's efforts to fight corruption through demonetisation, but noted that the transition needs to be managed 'prudently' to minimise any disruption.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower on Friday as oil prices eased on skepticism regarding OPEC's ability to rebalance crude supply and US bond yields soared on expectations that Trump will increase fiscal spending.  However, Japan’s Nikkei bucked the regional selloff, trading with small gains, on expectation they will benefit from Trump’s infrastructure spending. Meanwhile, the US markets made a mixed closing in last session with financial stocks moving higher amid optimism about reduced regulation under Trump.

Back home, sectors like Consumer Durables, Realty and Automobile witnessed brutal assaults as they got clobbered by 4.29%, 3.82% and 2.66% respectively. While counters like FMCG and oil & gas too suffered severe pounding. In scrip specific development, Jain Irrigation Systems edged higher after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 28 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016. Also, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has rallied after the pharma major's consolidated net profit more than doubles to Rs 2,235 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016.

The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 411 shares on the gaining side against 1890 shares on the losing side, while 124 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27108.45, down by 409.23 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 27079.10 and 27344.85. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.53%, while Small cap index was down by 2.22%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables down by 4.29%, Realty down by 3.82%, Auto down by 2.66%, FMCG down by 2.10% and Oil & Gas down by 1.99%, while there were no gainers on BSE sectoral space.

The few gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 5.02%, ONGC up by 0.49% and SBI up by 0.23%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 4.26%, Adani Ports &Special down by 4.02%, Asian Paints down by 3.63%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.50% and ICICI Bank down by 3.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to fight corruption through the currency control measures and illegal financial flows in India. However, it said that the move has to be managed prudently to minimize possible disruptions keeping in mind the large role of cash in everyday transactions in Indian economy.

The Prime Minister has expressed happiness at the patient and orderly manner in which citizens were getting notes exchanged in banks following cancellation of the legal tender character of high-denomination bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. He also said that it is heartening to see such warmth, enthusiasm and patience of the citizens to bear this limited inconvenience for a greater good.

Further, Government’s recent decision would help to make more and more transactions become digital and people will now disclose income and pay taxes. The Indian banks reopened on November 10 and have started issuing new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 in the market. Meanwhile, the government is also planning to re-introduce Rs 1,000 notes in few months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8386.85, down by 138.90 points or 1.63% after trading in a range of 8372.80 and 8460.60. There were 5 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 5.06%, Bank of Baroda up by 0.61%, ONGC up by 0.43%, BHEL up by 0.43% and SBI up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 4.85%, Adani Ports &Special down by 4.46%, Bharti Infratel down by 4.37%, GAIL India down by 4.24% and Bosch down by 3.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 1.34%, Taiwan Weighted declined 2.12%, Jakarta Composite dropped 2.95%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 0.98% and KOSPI Index was down by 0.77%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 0.8% and Nikkei 225 was up by 0.05%.